PAR Buddy

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smaragdus
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PAR Buddy

#1 Post by smaragdus »

Preamble
For reasons unknown to me the developer of PAR Buddy, K. Timmermann, has taken down the program website. The program is unique- its is highly customizable and extremely flexible and it can easily be made portable- the developer has provided official instructions how to run PAR Buddy in portable mode. It is a shame that such a versatile program has been abandoned since it has no real alternatives. PAR Buddy has been mentioned before but hasn't been reviewed yet.

Synopsis
PAR Buddy is a free Parchive 2 (PAR2) and RAR client which makes it possible to easily queue and schedule PAR2 checks/repairs jobs and/or unpack RAR files.

PAR Buddy's most powerful feature is the ability to monitor folders for PAR2 file sets and automaticly perform checking/reparing and RAR file unpacking or moving.

If you are already using QuickPAR, PAR Buddy can also work as a great supplement since QuickPAR can be launched manually from PAR Buddy in the rare cases where PAR Buddy is not sufficient for joining files.
Features
  • Job queueing and scheduling.
  • PAR2 checking and repairing.
  • RAR unpacking with password support.
  • Joining split files.
  • Flexible monitor feature with filters/rules allow to automaticky check/repair PAR sets, unpack or move file, etc.
  • Configurable pop-up notifications with sound effects when jobs are finished.
  • NFO file detection and support for NFO vievers.
  • Copying/moving of related files (configurable).
  • Use SFV files to determine related files (optional).
  • Deleting of unwanted files (configurable).
  • Anti-spam files rules/filters to avoid dangerous files.
  • Option to delete empty source folders.
  • Option to create folder cover image (if available).
  • Display of folder cover (if available).
  • Detailed activity and error logs.
  • Minimizing to tray option and animated tray icon when working.
  • Drop PAR2 files from file managers (Windows Explorer, Total Commander, etc.)
  • Integration with QuickPAR.
  • Integration with file managers.
  • Attractive and intuitive user interface.
  • Supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 in both 32bit and 64bit variants.
  • And much more.
Links
Website - Unavailable
Website - Internet Archive
Website - Internet Archive (2015-02-15)
Softpedia
SoftSea
AlternativeTo

Downloads Images

PAR Buddy version 2.80 - tabs:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - settings:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - monitor:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - add job to queue:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - monitors - context menu:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - job finished - incomplete:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - job finished - complete:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - tray control:

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PAR Buddy version 2.80 - about:

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Portability
The developer has provided instructions how to run PAR Buddy in portable mode. The program is fully portable and stealth.

Instructions
  • Download the executable (PARBuddy280_Setup.exe);
  • Extract the executable;
  • Navigate to {app} sub-folder and move it to a location of your choice;
  • Open file PARBuddy_ini.txt;
  • Navigate to line SettingsFolder=DEFAULT;
  • Change the line to SettingsFolder=APPPATH;
  • Save and close file PARBuddy_ini.txt;
  • Rename file PARBuddy_ini.txt to PARBuddy.ini;
  • Create Settings sub-folder in program folder;
  • Run the executable (PARBuddy.exe);
  • Settings files will be saved in XML files (PARBuddySettings.xml, PARBuddyMonitors.xml) inside Settings sub-folder;
In short, the last line in PARBuddy.ini file should be like that:

Code: Select all

SettingsFolder=APPPATH
Requirements
PAR Buddy should run on Windows XP or higher and it requires NET Framework 2.0 or higher:
  • Windows XP, Windowns Vista or Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit)
  • .NET Framework v2.0
PAR Buddy version 2.80 (x32) works fine under Windows 8 x64.

License
PAR Buddy is unrestricted freeware:
PAR Buddy is freeware, meaning it's completely free to use and does not contain spyware, malware, ads, etc.
This software is unsupported and without any warrenty - installing and using is at the user's own risk.
Note
The latest (and most likely- last) version of PAR Buddy - 2.80, was released on 2011-01-25.
The latest version of PAR Buddy - 2.80, supports only PAR2 files.
PAR Buddy may be abandoned for good and may be considered legacy software but it is a complex and well-designed tool.
As far as I know there is no way to contact the developer.
The x64 version of PAR Buddy (PARBuddy280_64bit_Setup.exe) has become the holy grail for me- I searched for it thoroughly but I couldn't find a working download link.

Alternatives
To my knowledge there are no real alternatives to PAR Buddy. However there are several programs which can handle Parchive files: Details
File details for PAR Buddy version 2.80 (released on 2011-01-25):

==

Name: PARBuddy280_Setup.exe
File Size: 2902238 Byte(s) (2.77 MB)
MD5: 7c6f753378b0c3ef64be7207f103c78c
SHA1: 0451eb2e52d9a85123eb3517061cd9c8b056b0b5
SHA256: 382fa987170e1193a002609645e3b633eb5edc3dcd39008b788dff85968fa84f
SHA512: ecee04858f23e0aab0372c5d40f8f53adb3372a552df07d7bc3128de3203062b8770681b1933f1b697ae531101f9901244a2988c245fe6ce53a6a56b1eb99dc8

==

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webfork
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Re: PAR Buddy

#2 Post by webfork »

I'm a little unclear on the use case for something like this. The folder watch component makes me think that this program is primarily for use with the old (and still around) newsgroups services that embraced the PAR protocol in the early days of the Internet. As connections tended to be rather slow and unreliable, pulling from newsgroups could take days or sometimes a week. Automatically processing these files once they came in was a nice extra.

I guess my question is: Who is this targeting? Why use this program over something like Multipar?

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smaragdus
Posts: 2120
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 3:24 am
Location: Aeaea

Re: PAR Buddy

#3 Post by smaragdus »

@webfork
I guess my question is: Who is this targeting? Why use this program over something like Multipar?
PAR Buddy is an automation tool- it can be set to monitor folders and queue and schedule jobs- checking, repairing, unpacking, moving.

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webfork
Posts: 10818
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:06 pm
Location: US, Texas
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Re: PAR Buddy

#4 Post by webfork »

smaragdus wrote: Thu May 31, 2018 5:33 pm PAR Buddy is an automation tool- it can be set to monitor folders and queue and schedule jobs- checking, repairing, unpacking, moving.
Of course -- that makes sense. Thanks :)

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